Dharma Talk – December 12, 2010 – Jodo-e Commemorating the Enlightenment of the Buddha
Good morning everyone. Thank you all for being here today to commemorate the Enlightenment of the Buddha, called Jodo-e in Japanese.
Roughly 3000 years ago a young man, a prince who had lived a life of luxury and comfort took it upon himself to find a way to enable every person to overcome the sufferings of life. According to legend he left his palace and encountered a mother giving birth, an old person suffering from sickness, a person who had died, and a holy man. After these sightings there arose within him a great desire to take it upon himself to lead all mankind to indestructible happiness. This is not to be confused with mere elation at some temporary phenomena, but instead a joy and happiness that can set one free from the afflictions of daily life.
After many years denying himself of comfort and even inflicting great depredations upon his body he came to a realization that this could never lead to the solution to life’s problems. It was then he cleaned himself, took a small bowl of porridge milk and began silent meditation under a type of banyan tree that is called pipal.
This man had left the path of indulgence as a royal prince, he had tried the path of complete abandonment of all things even food and sleep, finally he realized that neither extreme held the answer he was looking for. Neither hedonism, nor asceticism, nor nihilism, held the key to overcoming the suffering of birth, old-age, sickness, and death. None of those views could eliminate the Three Poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance, nor could they lead anyone to the great goal of understanding the true nature of reality, of attaining enlightenment.
As he sat in meditation he was attacked ferociously by Mara and his evil army. The temptations of doubt, fame, and difficulty were thrown at him relentlessly by a great master deceiver, a person skilled at sowing doubt, a person skilled at tempting with fame, a person skilled at deception. All of these things thrown at the Buddha to try to prevent him from attaining final enlightenment were born of his own mind but through his great determination he overcame these last major obstacles.
Finally touching the ground and calling upon the earth and all of life and the universe to bear witness to what he was accomplishing he attained enlightenment.
From that time to the end of his life he spared no effort to teach his disciples his great discovery so that he could ensure that everyone have access to what he had discovered. One of those teachings called the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra contains the ultimate of all his teachings and discovery. In the final years of his life he revealed the teaching that is the ultimate goal of all Buddhas and the heart and soul of Buddhism. Today we chanted a portion of that great sutra as well as we chanted the great sacred title, Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.
Today each of you placed a Bodhi leaf petal on which you have recorded a wish or prayer in front of the statue of the Buddha. You also placed a candle around the Buddha. We have done these things to honor the achievement of the Buddha becoming the light of all mankind and we decorated his seat with petals just as the heavenly deities rained down flowers and petals upon his great achievement. You also offered incense so that the fragrance would be like the moment the Buddha attained enlightenment. All of these things you did as an expression of your joy and your gratitude for the great gift the Buddha has given you.
Nichiren Shonin says in a letter written to Shijo Kingo:
There is a phrase in the beginning of the second chapter of the Lotus Sutra which reads, ‘Sho but chie jin jin muryo” (the wisdom of all the Buddhas is infinitely profound and mmeasurable). ‘All the Buddhas’ refers to all the Buddhas throughout the Ten Directions in the Three Existences, the Tathagata Mahavairochana of the Shingon School, Amida Buddha of the Pure Land School, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of all the schools and all the sutras, all the various Buddhas throughout the past, future, and present, and the current Tathagata, Sakyamuni. The Lotus Sutra speaks of the wisdom of each and every one of those Buddhas.
What is this wisdom? It is the profound principle of the manifested Dharma of the true aspect of the Ten Factors of all phenomena which leads all beings to Buddhahood. What then is the manifested entity? It is none other than Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.” Shijo Kingo Dono Gohenji, trans. Tarabini Shonin
So today we celebrated the enlightenment of the Buddha by chanting the Odaimoku of Namu-myoho-renge-kyo which as Nichiren explains is the manifest entity of all the Buddhas throughout space and time. It is the heart and soul of all the thought contained within all the sutras taught by all the Buddhas, including Sakyamuni Buddha.
In this same letter Nichiren goes on to talk about Bonno Soku Bodai which translates as ‘earthly desires and other afflictions transformed into enlightenment’. Some of you may have heard of this concept and you may be familiar with a mistranslation of it. There are some who have claimed that it means that whatever we wish for the attainment of that wish is enlightenment. So that regardless of what one’s desires are they are the path to enlightenment. This is very far from the true meaning.
If we think that whatever we wish for leads us to enlightenment then we can mislead ourselves into thinking that we need not change ourselves. That somehow because we chant we are entitled to receive any wish or dream we may aspire to even if it is harmful to ourselves or others. It leads us into thinking that we are somehow better or more worthy of benefit than other people. Nothing, and I repeat nothing can be further from the truth.
At the heart of Buddhism is change, or transformation. We practice Buddhism to change our lives. The Four Nobel Truths talk about suffering, a reason for suffering, a way to overcome suffering and finally a path which tells us what to do. The Eightfold Path is our guide to overcoming suffering to changing our lives so that we cease making the causes that lead us to suffering. At the core of the Eightfold Path is an instruction to change, to transform our lives into a life that begins to look like the life of a Buddha. We do not become Buddhas merely because we say we are, no it is by changing our lives into lives of Buddhas.
Within each of us we possess the potential for enlightenment we also posses an equal potential for hell. It is by transforming ourselves, by transforming our thoughts, our words, our deeds that then becomes possible for us to manifest that enlightened potential. Our desires do not automatically equal enlightenment, if that were the case then there really would be no need for Buddhism.
The Buddha undertook a fundamental transformation of his life, showing us by example that it can be done and by choosing the middle path he showed us that every person is capable of that same enlightenment he awoken too, if we too transform our lives. Further Nichiren Shonin gave us the single most effective way to achieving this transformation, a way that every person is capable of carrying out regardless of their unique situation.
I have only briefly touched upon this important concept but I would like for you all to consider transforming your lives into lives of Golden Buddhas.
In closing let me share with you another quote by Nichiren from his letter to Shijo Kingo:
“Carry through with your faith in the Lotus Sutra. You cannot strike fire from flint if you stop halfway. Bring forth the great power of strong faith and be spoken of by all the people throughout Kamakura, both high and low, and even by all the people of Japan, as Shijo Kingo of the Lotus School. A bad reputation will spread far and wide, but a good reputation will spread even further, particularly if it is a reputation for devotion to the Lotus Sutra.” trans Tarabini Shonin
I hope you will apply this encouragement to your own lives, every day.
Below are photos from the Jodo-e Ceremony held at Myosho-ji, Wonderful Voice Buddhist Temple in Charlotte, NC USA.
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